The repetition of slash.
Jan. 16th, 2006 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusI've been feeling a sense of frustration as I gorge on fanfic.
First, my frustration with my SGA writing. Little bits and pieces of SGA fanfic are surfacing but not resolving into a complete stories. In my minds eye, Jack O'Neill turns up at Atlantis and turns on the equipment as easily as Sheppard (and Jack isn't too happy about it, except when he triggers what is more or less a video game he and John play for hours) -- but then it doesn't go any further, doesn't become a plot.
I hope you will forgive me if I just throw a bunch of these moments into my LJ, like scattering silver dollars in the sand.
As for reading, short stories are starting to fall into the same pattern, over and over:
A) Someone has a hidden crush (or doesn't).
B) Something happens to bring the two together to reveal (or create) that crush.
C) Intervening "stuff," obstacles or real world plot, which force the issue.
D) They have glorious sex.
E) Ta-da! Happy ending.
Sometimes that's exactly what I want. But right now I'm wanting more. Something where the focus isn't just on getting the two lovely boys together for hot sex (though I like the hot sex, yes I do).
"Visiting Hours" is one example. The story is about Sheppard being pushed to the edge. The sex is there, but it isn't the sum total of the story. "A Beautiful Lifetime Event" is about how people change when they have kids. "Skirting The Issue" is about an off-world team attempting to BS their way through an embarrassing post-mission briefing (and short-circuiting each other in the process).
More please. And more depth? Are there any stories I've missed that aren't blood-curdling angst that have a little more meat on their bones?
First, my frustration with my SGA writing. Little bits and pieces of SGA fanfic are surfacing but not resolving into a complete stories. In my minds eye, Jack O'Neill turns up at Atlantis and turns on the equipment as easily as Sheppard (and Jack isn't too happy about it, except when he triggers what is more or less a video game he and John play for hours) -- but then it doesn't go any further, doesn't become a plot.
I hope you will forgive me if I just throw a bunch of these moments into my LJ, like scattering silver dollars in the sand.
As for reading, short stories are starting to fall into the same pattern, over and over:
A) Someone has a hidden crush (or doesn't).
B) Something happens to bring the two together to reveal (or create) that crush.
C) Intervening "stuff," obstacles or real world plot, which force the issue.
D) They have glorious sex.
E) Ta-da! Happy ending.
Sometimes that's exactly what I want. But right now I'm wanting more. Something where the focus isn't just on getting the two lovely boys together for hot sex (though I like the hot sex, yes I do).
"Visiting Hours" is one example. The story is about Sheppard being pushed to the edge. The sex is there, but it isn't the sum total of the story. "A Beautiful Lifetime Event" is about how people change when they have kids. "Skirting The Issue" is about an off-world team attempting to BS their way through an embarrassing post-mission briefing (and short-circuiting each other in the process).
More please. And more depth? Are there any stories I've missed that aren't blood-curdling angst that have a little more meat on their bones?
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 08:51 am (UTC)You may have read some or even most of these. Heck, you may even have recced them. In any event, here they are:
Down from Mount Olympus
http://www.livejournal.com/users/trinityofone/18773.html
John has, perhaps, overidentified with the Ancients. And it has some interesting psychological ramifications. Some sex, but it isn't the point. The really strange mental place he's in *is*.
Legion the things I would give to oblivion
http://www.livejournal.com/users/auburnnothenna/90053.html?#cutid1
Ow. Something is terribly, terribly wrong, in a wonderful plotty way. Some slash in the background, but it isn't the plot. Not by any means.
Charting The Motion Of Planets
http://www.area52hkh.net/asd/dasha/charting.php
Sometimes the right thing to do isn't the one your psychologist would approve of, or the one that's good for the rescue team's self esteem. A really good little short fic about hard choices. It does sort of blow most of the impact in the first half, trailing off into less emotional consequence, but the core ideas stuck with me. Yes, it ends in kissing, but that seemed totally irrelevant, frankly.
The Jenny Code
http://www.offpanel.net/dmz/sga/jenny.html
I can't imagine that you haven't seen this before, but on the off chance you haven't, this is something you'll want to see. Hardcore military gen. Yum.
The Taste of Apples
http://www.eternalvox.net/%7Eauburn/apples.html
Heartbreakingly beautiful gen featuring some truly alien aliens and a disturbing dreamlike atmosphere.
Somewhere I Have Never Travelled
http://www.livejournal.com/community/sga_flashfic/19478.html
An actually *interesting* use of induced amnesia to get a better look at who characters really are, and what their basic motivations are when stripped of context. Gen or het depending on how you look at it, and really something.
Retrograde
http://www.ltljverse.com/watergate/stories/retrograde1.htm
This is another that I suspect you've seen, but wow, what a ride. Wonderful nasty gen AU where reconnecting with Earth took a little longer and things went terribly, terribly wrong. SG-1 comes in to investigate and the plot thickens.
Teamwork
http://www.livejournal.com/users/magus_minor/4439.html#cutid1
Okay, this one's a *little* closer to the romance formula, but still enough about the plot, I think.
John's a mathematician because his issues with authority are even bigger than they are in canon, thus putting a military career out of the question. Rodney's a Mountie (in Atlantis for reasons that do not need to be explored at this juncture) because someone cared enough to take him aside when he was a kid and make him think about the *ethics* of being a mad scientist. Also, there's Cadman and Beckett, the same as they ever were. Yes, they eventually pair off, but that still isn't what the story is about. What it's about is what it must be like to be the "B" team, and what takes to make a group of people work smoothly - the sacrifices as well as the fun.
And last but not least, Pegasus Ba'al
No! Hear me out! Yes, Pegasus B is sort of Atlantis as Gay Soap Opera, but this is something different. Think less soap opera and more Battlestar Galactica 2003 without the Cylons.
It's an AU of the AU, so much so that basically nothing of the original AU remains after they get there. To put it simply, everybody plus Jack and Daniel go to Atlantis, but when they get there, surprise! There's Baal.
This is very, very, very good. Impeccably written, astoundingly plotty, epic in scope and totally ruthless. Throw out all your pairing assumptions and plot assumptions because anything and everything that can go wrong (or right) may. Dark Moon, High Tide by Tafkar http://www.tafkar.net/dmht.htm is probably the best, but the sequels Under A Broken Moon by Raqs and The Palest Sky by Kellifer are also quite good and plotty. You can find both of them listed here http://www.livejournal.com/community/pegasus_b/35705.html#cutid1 . Kellifer is working on another story in the arc, and so far it looks pretty good.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 09:11 am (UTC)Thank you. *dives into the ficness with glee*
Icarus
no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 09:21 pm (UTC)Icarus
no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 06:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 09:28 pm (UTC)I'm not sure. I think that for me I'm really looking to create characters, do more world-building of my own, though fanfic stories are still there.
For the time being I'll just dole out tantalizing teaspoonfuls of whatever turns up, even if it's not complete, using this journal as a sort of notebook. You know, uust to make myself flesh them out a little more and not get "flabby" writing-wise.
Icarus